3rd April: Pony Express inaugurated

On this date in 1860 the Pony Express was inaugurated.

The Pony Express was a mail service delivering messages, newspapers, mail, and small packages from St. Joseph, Missouri, across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento, California, by horseback, by means of a series of relay stations. It reduced the time for messages to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to about 10 days, which many people had said was not possible.

1. The Pony Express was founded by three men, William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell. They were already in the freighting business.
2. It's alleged that, when advertising for young men to become Pony Express riders, the ad read, "Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred." There is some dispute as to whether this ad ever actually appeared, but it is true that it was a dangerous job, and that the riders were small, light teenage boys - weighing no more than 125 pounds (57 kg) - for the same reason that jockeys tend to be small, light men.
3. Pony Express riders were required to sign a statement swearing never to drink alcohol, use profane language or fight with their colleagues. Each rider was given a special edition Bible.
4. No-one is entirely sure who the first rider was on the inaugural westbound trip. It was either Johnson William Richardson or Johnny Fry. The first eastbound trip is better documented. James Randall picked up the mail from San Francisco Alta telegraph office. He and his horse took a steamboat to Sacramento where the Pony Express rider William (Sam) Hamilton picked up the mail and rode with is as far as Sportsman Hall Station where Warren Upson took over.
5. There were about 157 Pony Express stations along the route. They were about 10 miles apart, as that was the distance a Horse could gallop before becoming tired. The riders would change horses at the stations before carrying on.
6. The most important consideration for the rider was the safety of the mail pouch, called a "mochila" (from the Spanish for pouch or backpack). If it came to it, the employers said, the horse and rider should perish rather than the mochila. As well as the mail, which was put in padlocked pockets, the mochila would contain a water sack, a Bible, a horn for alerting the relay station master to prepare the next horse, and a revolver. The mochila would weigh around 40 pounds. In time, the equipment the riders carried was cut back to the bare minimum to minimise the weight - so aside from the mail, only water and the gun were carried. Special lightweight saddles were also used.
7. It could be hard and dangerous work. Each rider rode about 75 miles (121 km) per day, and would ride day and night, spending up to 20 hours on horseback in times of emergency. There was always a risk of being ambushed by Indians - notably the Paiute tribe, who made special targets of the riders. The stations were as much at risk as the riders. On one occasion, a Paiute raiding party attacked a Pony Express station on the Carson River, killed five men and burned the station. Despite all this, only once did the mail not get through. Even so, the mail was eventually recovered and delivered two years late.
8. The riders were well paid for their trouble. Their salary was $100 per month, at a time when most unskilled jobs paid less than a dollar a day.
9. It has proved impossible to compile a list of all the young men who took on this task. The most famous of them was one William Cody (Buffalo Bill). Another notable rider was Billy Tate, aged 14. He was killed in a Paiute ambush but not before killing seven of the ambushers himself. The Paiute must have thought him a worthy opponent, as Tate's body, although full of arrows, was not scalped - a sign of respect for an enemy.
10. The Pony Express only operated for 18 months. It came to an end with the start of the Civil War and also the invention of the telegraph. During its time in operation, the Pony Express delivered approximately 35,000 letters.